Pillars of creationThese eerie pillars are columns of cool, interstellar hydrogen gas and dust in which new stars are being born.
The pillars protrude from the interior wall of a dark molecular cloud, like
stalagmites from the floor of a cavern. They are part of the "Eagle
Nebula", also called M16, and are 7,000 light-years away in the constellation
Serpens.